Occupational Hazard
by Flying Semprini
Summary: An intergalactic businessman from Earth makes a wrong turn and bumbles into the Mobian conflict. A couple minor swears in here, nothing much to worry about..


The laser shots made an almost comical "ping" sound off the scrap metal shield Jonas Hadron was hiding behind. What a spot to be in. And all he'd wanted ten minutes ago was a bit of information on where he'd just arrived.  
  
But when he'd asked these patrol robots, or so they looked to be, where he was and where was the nearest restroom, they had responded by shooting at him, saying "Intruder Alert" in quite the obnoxious voice repeatedly. As a result, he was now pinned against a wall in one of the grungier parts of the gigantic city he'd happened upon. Come to think of it, the entire city looked dingy ever since he got here. Jonas didn't really care for this city's hospitality.  
  
Here he was, just flying into this quaint-looking planet on his freighter ship at sub-light speed, just wondering if the locals might like to buy some of his wares. Sure, he didn't exactly announce his intentions before landing, like he was supposed to under regulations of the Scicomp Interplanetary Corporation. He didn't even know what planet it was; all he knew was that he'd missed Omicrus 4, the one he was supposed to visit that was right next door on a galactic scale. The short trip and the friendliness of the people of Omicrus was why he was alone. He should have brought a map.  
  
Now Jonas was reaping the benefits of not adhering to the rules strictly. He could have negated it too, what with the bootleg weapons stowed away on board that he should have brought along. They weren't sitting there because he was interested in dirty dealings. Usually, Scicomp liked to make sure its salesmen had something for everyone - even if that something meant a little violence. It was a good company for the most part, but there were inevitable shady individuals within it.  
  
"Look!" he shouted over the din of the onslaught. "I just wanted to see if you guys wanted to buy some spare bolts or something! If you don't want any, just say so and I'll leave!"  
  
"Surrender or perish," droned one of the police robots. That wasn't helpful. He couldn't well step out and surrender if he was going to get fricasseed.  
  
So Jonas sat, listening to the steady, almost musical rhythm of laser shots tappity-tapping off the piece of shiny metal protecting his backside at the moment. Eventually, he heard a few clanks here and there, and the laser shots grew less frequent. Finally, they stopped altogether with a final metallic thud.  
  
Jonas waited a few minutes, just to make sure his head wouldn't be neatly removed from his shoulders should he dare a peek at the activity or lack thereof in front of him. He had nothing better than his hand to wave out for safety, and supposed it was better to lose one's hand than one's life. Finding it intact, he peeked.  
  
The robots' laser beams had reflected perfectly as beams of light off the mirror-like metal, slicing holes through their opaque shooters and taking them all out one by one.  
  
With security like this on the planet, it was no wonder the city was as run- down as it was.  
  
Deciding to keep his shield for further protection, the 27-year old merchant also grabbed a blaster from a fallen bot and took off to find a place to hide. It was a good question as to whether he'd actually need it, after what should have been a no-win situation.  
  
*************  
  
"What do you mean we lost all of them?!"  
  
"It wasn't my fault, sir! The robots' programming did what it was designed to do!!"  
  
Dr. Ivo Robotnik growled at his nephew Snively. This was usually a sign for anyone else with pertinent news to wait outside until Robotnik had finished trouncing Snively before bringing it in, particularly if it was bad news.  
  
"And are you implying that I, ruler of all Mobius, made a mistake programming my creations?! An unarmed, average human being is not supposed to be able to defeat them with his bare hands! And on top of that, the hedgehog got away again! Do you plan on showcasing enough incompetence to merit your doom?!"  
  
"N-n-not at all, sir! It's j-just that these things happen and I don't know what went wrong, but it really wasn't my fault!" Snively bawled.  
  
Robotnik was beyond reason with rage at this point.  
  
"I'll teach you to insult me, ignorant fool!" he roared, smashing Snively across his overly large nose and across the room as well. The SWATbots outside the control room paid no attention to the pummeling of Snively that followed this action.  
  
****************  
  
Jonas continued to run through the wreckage of the city, panting heavily. Although he certainly wasn't any walking wall of muscle, he liked to think he was in decent shape. However, carrying a cumbersome slab of sheet metal and a respectably weighty laser rifle at the moment didn't help matters at all. Finally getting sick of carrying the makeshift shield, he dropped the nuisance to his side and kept going. There was enough scrap metal lying around to find another reflective surface.  
  
He finally came to a halt outside a rather harmless-looking building. At this point in his career as a merchant, he knew better than simply to assume this. But he had to find someplace to hide so he could gather his thoughts and figure out how to get back to his ship in one piece. There was doubtless heightened security now that his original assailants had killed themselves off in a really noisy manner.  
  
Jonas kicked the door open, immediately looking for something to move and then die by his hand.  
  
"You want to come out and get this over with? Huh, punk?!?!" he yelled in his best Rambo impression. It came out as a rather pathetic imitation, but no one in his right mind would make fun of an armed man on the run.  
  
Hearing no answer, Jonas scanned the dim entrails of the building, and finding nothing immediate, slipped inside and slammed the door. Looking for a light, he eventually found a switch and flicked it on.  
  
And promptly wished he hadn't.  
  
There was one giant room, lit by fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Gigantic glass tubes, about 10 or 12, each supported what looked to be people floating inside, attached to wires. But not quite.only a few of them looked sort of humanoid. There were metal fixtures on most of them, and some had their eyes open, glowing an unholy red. A few seemed to be moving, flexing their gruesome appendages.and looking at him with a bit of a sneer. Two of them even clawed at the glass, trying to get out and get at him, and mouthing indiscernible words at him.  
  
Yep. That was plenty excuse to retreat like a true coward.  
  
Jonas fled back outside, now doing his best audible impression of a scared little child, for about a few seconds. Then he realized that he might attract trouble in this hostile environment, and shut up.  
  
Looking around for any trouble, he saw a floating robot drift by. It turned, and apparently saw him. Now it faced him. He ducked behind something to make sure he didn't acquire a few laser holes.  
  
But the thing just hung there, looking at him through a soulless camera lens. Upon a closer look, it appeared to be a spy device of some sort. And it hovered, recording his every move, a feat of engineering.  
  
Well, how cute.  
  
Jonas aimed and fired, blasting the thing to fiery shrapnel. Sure, it probably wasn't a good idea, but it was better than having some probably hostile guy stare at him via remote control as he navigated the modernized ruins.  
  
"Milk! Lichen Tuesdays!" sang the language translator in his ear canal.  
  
Startled by the sudden voice, he turned without thinking and shot once in the general direction from whence it came.  
  
"What? Who are you?! Show yourself!" Jonas was beginning to become quite unnerved. After the recent events that played out before him, he wasn't about to be lured into a trap.  
  
"My bastion is Trotsky if paint our doodles," came the indignant-sounding reply.  
  
"Ehh.?"  
  
"Doodles or burnt abstraction!!" This reply sounded more annoyed and Jonas suddenly remembered that the translator in his ear was set to the main dialect of Omicrus, where he was supposed to be. That would mean the actual words were much different than the gibberish he was getting. Taking cover, he pulled the device out, and fiddled with the dial until "Mobian" appeared in the language selector. He then popped it back in his ear. "Sorry. What was that again?"  
  
"I said don't shoot, you idiot! What are you, challenged?!" The voice sounded rather.young.  
  
"Let's see you try to understand somebody with an ear translator that isn't set right, huh?" This guy reminded Jonas of so many irate customers who had something to complain about regarding a product they'd bought. "Now come out and let's have a look at you."  
  
"How do I know you won't shoot me?"  
  
"I'll light the place up if you don't." This came across as very blunt and rude and Jonas knew it. It was really going to hurt sales on this planet even if he could establish trade. At this point, however, his temper outweighed his business sense.  
  
"Fine. Have it your way." A figure emerged from behind a nondescript metal crate that blended into the background. Jonas let his jaw drop.  
  
It looked like a child. A fox kit to be exact, not more than 12 as far as Jonas could tell. With two tails and a scowl across his face.  
  
"What are you staring at?" the fox demanded.  
  
"Well.it's just I didn't expect to see someone your age in a bad place like this," Jonas stammered. You're quite the freaky-looking kid too, he also thought but wasn't stupid enough to say. Nothing personal or biased, just that he was used to dealing with, well, humans and humanoids of the furless kind. All the other planets he'd traveled to were inhabited with the latter kind.  
  
"I'm almost 13, for Pete's sake! And besides, I'm with someone. He's not going to be happy when he sees you pointing that thing at me."  
  
"All right, you don't have to get testy with me." Jonas decided the kid was okay, and threw the gun aside. "Look.I'm just a businessman traveling through the galaxy. I never wanted to hurt anyone, just sell quality products to them." The sales pitch sounded like a bunch of baloney indeed, but it really was the truth.  
  
The fox wasn't buying it either. "How do I know you're telling the truth and not working for Robotnik?"  
  
Ro-what-nik? That name rang a bell back at Scicomp headquarters on Earth. Where did he hear it.oh yes. Robotnik. The tyrannical ruler of a planet named Mobius, bent on controlling the planet and anything that crossed its orbit. Jonas then remembered with a bit of disgust that the president of the company had specifically told him not to land here on pain of being fired. And all of this was why.  
  
Crap.  
  
Only Scicomp knew he existed because everyone else who tried to investigate got blown up before they could report back. Jonas tried not to think about the one ship that got out a transmission before it was captured or blown up. It wasn't encouraging at the moment.  
  
Since that incident, a total revamp of the entire company inventory, including new ships and equipment, had been done without explanation. The company board members would tell no one but their employees, who were sworn to secrecy.  
  
Of course, if he could get back to the ship and get out of here alive, then the boss wouldn't have to hear about it. Jonas could make up an excuse for the time lost in the detour, involving some strange thing on Omicrus. It would all work out.  
  
The fox noticed him lost in thought. "Well! Are you? Wake up!!"  
  
"Er.oh, uh, no I'm not." Jonas wasn't making a good impression and he knew it. He opened his mouth to try and talk his way out of being Mobius' most wanted when suddenly a bluish blur seemed to descend around him, whirling faster and faster until he felt himself trying to stay on the ground from the wind force exerted on him.  
  
After a few seconds, the blur instantly coalesced into a blue hedgehog-like creature standing right in front of him.  
  
"Hey, Sonic," chirped the fox.  
  
"Yo, Tails. Thanks for waiting for me." He turned to look at Jonas. "Yeah, we saw you land here not too long ago. Who are you and what are you doing here?"  
  
"Somebody calling himself a businessman," Tails answered. Jonas wished that kid wouldn't talk. "I don't trust him. He shot at me too."  
  
"Oh, really? Well, bud," the character said, turning to Jonas, "what do you have to say to that?"  
  
Now he was in for it. This guy was rather quick on his feet, to put it lightly. Jonas attempted to talk his way out of it again.  
  
"Well, it is the truth! I travel from planet to planet. I sell things! My ship is right outside this bucket of bolts for a city. If you want, I'll take you there. Honest!"  
  
Both of them didn't believe him at all. That "you're-full-of-it" look was in their eyes. And he refused to just submit quietly.  
  
"So what, you're not going to even try and see if I'm telling the truth or not? I can't believe this.Look pal, I'm way behind schedule, and if you don't want to buy anything, I'm going to be on my way." Jonas turned to leave.  
  
"Not so fast, 'pal'," Sonic forced back, whipping in his way. "Anyone trying to sell things in this city is probably trying to reinforce Robotnik. We can't have that. You're coming with us, willing or not."  
  
No, Jonas really couldn't have that. He had to get going. Now. Or face a docked paycheck.  
  
"Well, you see, there's a problem with." he started. Then, he sharply pointed a finger over Sonic's shoulder. "Hey! What's that! It looks dangerous! Better take cover!"  
  
Both Tails and Sonic turned towards nothing in particular, just long enough for Jonas to run for it.  
  
He was snickering to himself over how easily this old ruse worked when the blue blur appeared again, whirling around him like a pesky dust devil. So the guy wasn't an idiot. It would have been nice if he weren't so fast either.  
  
"Okay, okay, it was worth a try. Now stop doing that. It's annoyi - "  
  
Jonas didn't finish due to Sonic thunking him over the head with a nearby lead pipe. He slumped forward, unconscious, and Sonic roughly shouldered him after slowing down.  
  
"All right, he shouldn't quite have a concussion, I think. We have enough time to get something to keep him out for a while. Come on, Tails. We gotta go check in with Uncle Chuck and get Bunnie and the others to check this guy's ship out. And we'd better haul him back to Knothole before we pick them up. Ready?"  
  
"Whenever you are!" his protégé replied eagerly.  
  
And the three were off.  
  
*************  
  
"So you're awake."  
  
What a killer headache. There had been a blue blur, and then something like a pistol whip smacking him upside the head, and hard. Then a few weird, psychedelic dreams, involving a giant croissant with legs and a smiling mouth, as well as Cheech and Chong offering him illicit substances, had bothered him for a while.  
  
And now Jonas was indeed awake, apparently tied up, and couldn't see.  
  
And he still had to use the bathroom.  
  
Next trip - if there was one at all - he was so bringing a map of this area of the galaxy and keeping it on him at all times to avoid this sort of thing again.  
  
"Well, howdy," he said. "Where am I and why can't I see?"  
  
"You have a blindfold on so we can trust you not to trace your steps back to Robotnik. We know you're working for him," came the Australian-accented reply. The translator in his ear had that strange effect of assigning ethnicities to voices. It might actually be funny if the given situation were different.  
  
"Look," Jonas stated slowly. To make this absolutely clear, he would use the second-grader approach. "I do not work for Robotnik. I work for people that are very, very far away from here. Did I shoot on one of you? Yes, and I am sorry. It was an accident."  
  
A hand slapped him across the face. He felt some rather sharp fingernails cut him across the cheekbone. It stung and he felt blood drip down his jaw.  
  
"Do you really think we'll let you play dumb? We know what you humans are like. What you did to this world during the Great War. Now tell us the truth."  
  
"Oh, I see. And I suppose the giant, harmless-looking freighter ship, with no guns, hovering outside a city with technology bearing no resemblance to it at all, with an emblem that clearly says it's a merchant ship from Earth.and you think that's a harbinger of evil?"  
  
"It may be and it may not. Don't think we're going to take that chance." Jonas could feel a sneer come from his interrogator's direction even with the blindfold on. "Right now, a team of surveyors is sneaking into the ship and looking it over to make sure you're lying, at the risk of their own lives. I'm sure you've never had to worry about risking your neck too much," the skunk spat. "It will be destroyed tomorrow morning by our demolition experts."  
  
Yikes.  
  
"Okay, look, you don't need to do that. I can take you out there myself and prove to you that it's just a business freighter, maybe even drive it back here for you to take a look at it. Your hedgehog and fox friends should have let me do that.now it's just that many more resources for your enemy to work with. They've definitely found and taken everything out of the ship."  
  
"So you were leaving it as a trap? I knew it, you filth!" Again the interrogator let him have it, up across the left side of his forehead this time, cutting him again. Now it wasn't so much painful as irritating.  
  
"I didn't say that. I said I parked outside the city because that's where the civilization seemed to be. Some civilization."  
  
Now a fist smashed relatively hard on his temple, and Jonas decided to shut up.  
  
"We used to have a proud civilization before you human scum ruined it all!!" the unknown assailant screamed. "Someday we will eradicate the world of the evil beings that you are!"  
  
Now Jonas had recovered and was angry, and revoked his resolve to remain quiet. "Get it through your skull!" he shouted back. "I'm not from this planet, and if I was, what would I care about 'your' civilization! I sure as anything wouldn't destroy it, that's for sure! For the love of Mary and Joseph! Can't a star-to-star salesman just sell things in peace?"  
  
"Save your lies! You open your mouth one more time and I swear you're not leaving here alive!!"  
  
Jonas was about to spew forth the most vitriolic language he could think of when he heard a door open, and a younger, friendlier, female voice commanded, "Geoffery, chill out! Get out and let me talk to this guy." A few footsteps signaled this second person's approach. "Yikes, what'd you do to his face?" Great, that wasn't encouraging.  
  
"Well, he was asking for it!" answered "Geoffery's" voice.  
  
"I'm sure he was, but he isn't going to cooperate if you beat him up." One had to love it when a boss knew how to placate some stupidly angry or moody employee. "Why don't you go cool off outside for a while?"  
  
"Very well. Parasite," Jonas heard Geoffery mutter at him as his steps left the room and he slammed the door behind him.  
  
"Nice meeting you too!" Jonas called after him.  
  
"Please don't harass him. I have reason to believe you're worth sparing, but we can't risk making any mistakes. I want you to speak only when I ask you to. Do you understand?" He nodded, not feeling like another argument anyway. "Okay, I'm going to take the blindfold off." The shroud was lifted off his eyes, and Jonas, despite his frequent experience with strange surroundings, couldn't help but be a little unnerved.  
  
A squirrel-chipmunk-ish lady - wearing a vest and boots, and carrying some odd calculator of all things - stared at him with eyes of mercy and formidability at the same time. He was in a straw hut with wooden frames for doors and windows. Outside, all he could see was forest vegetation, and it looked like late afternoon. No city, and evidently, no ship, was visible among the trees. Instead, several furry people-like creatures were staring at him as well through the windows, none with much friendliness or acceptance.  
  
So much for business. Heck, so much for even directions to the nearest sane planetary system. If he was lucky he might be able to live under house arrest until he could run away and find his ship - if it was even still there untouched. Bother! He was going to get fired for this, without a doubt.  
  
If he ever got found alive again.  
  
****************  
  
Sir Charles Hedgehog had had a rotten day.  
  
First, he'd had to go help clean up the oil spills from the hovercraft bay. What a greasy mess, and it shouldn't even have been there. The things were supposed to be able to run without oil by now. Then, Chuck almost gave himself away in front of a security camera that fortunately was looking away from him as he stole away into his spy hideout to meet with his nephew, Sonic, and give them some information. One would think that after all this time under Robotnik's regime, he'd know well enough to be more careful.  
  
And now another human had landed on the planet.  
  
Oh, the new Earthling didn't seem to like Robotnik's regime too much. That was good to see at least. He'd made a nice mess that Sonic had been appreciative of as they watched on a hacked spybot surveillance camera. Still, it was never a good idea to assume, and Sonic had forced Tails to hide there while his tasks were completed for the day. It wouldn't be good to leave Tails there if the guy was a bad apple.  
  
He'd heard about the innocent traders that disappeared from the other ship from 10 years ago. Eventually, everyone found out what happened to them, and could do nothing to help them out of fear for their own safety. But this ship's insignia looked different. The guy might not be so hapless. He could be a spy, or if he was legit, things might have changed on Earth.  
  
So Chuck had to send Sonic to retrieve both of them and then tell Bunnie to stay a while longer and survey the Earthling's ship. It had been a dismay to see the rather unfriendly attitude the two parties had displayed towards each other. Oh well. Sally and the others knew what to do.  
  
Now the roboticized hedgehog fiddled away at some device that Snively wanted built quickly for something or other. He'd conveniently lost himself in the crowd of slaves that was sent to work in the hangar where the Earthling's ship was now stored.  
  
The thing was absolutely, incredibly big, but a peaceful-looking behemoth. This made sense if it was a freighter ship as Sonic had assumed before heading back to Knothole with the unconscious Earthling. It was incredible that only one guy could pilot the whole thing.  
  
Due to work backlog and a couple computer glitches Chuck "accidentally" caused with a few subtle key commands, it had remained there untouched since its arrival. All Chuck had to do was wait.  
  
Eventually, a troupe of SWATbots entered from the main hangar door and marched towards the ship. Excellent, he thought. Bunnie and a few other freedom fighters were disguised as SWATs among that particular crowd, as Sonic had told him. He could tell Bunnie from her robotic arm protruding out of the suit, and of course none of the real robots saw the difference. They'd do a little inventory, as well as make sure the real robots didn't take anything or damage the ship too much.one way or another.  
  
Chuck worked his way as close to the ship as the assembly line would let him. A device on his wrist, rigged to a bug on one of the real SWATbots, displayed itself and fed live audio to his ears internally so that no one else could hear it. Now he tuned into the SWATs' droning names of the things on board.  
  
".55,000 transistors, 20,000 data storage modules, 30,000 video entertainment devices."  
  
This went on for about twenty minutes, as Chuck continued to listen to item after boring item being rattled off while looking busy at the same time.  
  
Then something caught his ear.  
  
".4,000 chest armor plates, 3,000 military helmets, 5,000 laser rifles."  
  
Uh-oh. It seemed this guy needed a background check or two. Chuck eventually wandered off, now just waiting for his shift to end so he could report back to Knothole and confirm what Bunnie and the others probably heard just now. One of them was going to stay undercover overnight so that these materials wouldn't be taken. This could be very good, or very bad, for the freedom movement. Either way, the Earthling was not to be taken lightly.  
  
*******************  
  
"You say you're not from this planet. Is that right?" the squirrel lady began, with a guarded stance and expression on her face. Like Jonas was going to pull a stunt while tied to a chair hand and foot.  
  
"Yes, that's right. I'm an intergalactic businessman from Scicomp Industries on Earth. I go between planets selling materials and supplies, or even bartering for them if the planet doesn't use the monetary system most planets share now."  
  
"An interesting story, if it's true. We did have another ship come by a long time ago, so it's not out of the question."  
  
Jonas wished that hadn't come up. He didn't want to talk about the people on that ship.  
  
"Well, then I guess I'm in the clear, huh?"  
  
"We'll see about that. Even so, you might still be supplying the enemy." The squirrel-lady turned away and began to pace around the room like any good interrogator should. "It would be wonderful if we could trade with other worlds. We used to, at one point. That was before the Great War." She wheeled on him again, probably about to accuse him by association. "Before our civilization was ruined by Robotnik."  
  
Again with Robotnik. Why, oh why, hadn't he been more careful when he first landed here?  
  
"Alien or no, you should be aware that the human race has done many terrible things on this planet," she continued. "From what Sonic and Tails have told me about you shooting on them, you don't seem to be too different." She leaned in on him. "How can we know you're telling the truth? That you're not here to help our enemy?"  
  
Jonas felt like a broken record.  
  
"The thing is, I told your three colleagues that I could prove I was telling the truth by leading them to my ship myself and letting them have the stuff on board at no charge. It's all kinds of gadgets that I was originally going to sell to whoever wouldn't try to kill me. However, they refused to listen and decided to play bongos on my braincase instead. And by now, this Robotnik guy probably stole it all anyways by now because they wouldn't go get it first. Even if that wasn't so, your spies are going to blow the thing up, or so Stinky tells me. So you see, if I had the chance, I would have been able to prove to you I don't want to attack you, just sell you things."  
  
The squirrel lady narrowed her eyes. "Really? How come you shot at them?"  
  
"Look," Jonas stated. He wasn't going to take any garbage any more, even if it did cost him his freedom and possibly his life. "When I first got here, I got shot at myself for a good ten to twenty minutes by some rust buckets with guns. After I got out of there, I ran into a room of misshapen freaks that looked like they'd just love to rip apart anything that moved. Then some camera thing was gawking at me. This was all before I ran into your friends! And now I'm stuck on this madhouse of a planet because my ship is over there, about to become a happy little blaze of glory, complete with flying metal shards! Do you think for a second," he finished as his voice rose a little, "that I'd look at this as a normal situation?!"  
  
"I suppose not," was the abrupt reply, taking him off guard. He had been expecting a shouting match again, but instead saw a pained expression as her eyes lowered to the floor for a moment. Jonas suddenly felt awful spouting off like that; of course it wouldn't be pleasant to have to live constantly under these circumstances. And here he was complaining about being here for three hours or so. The squirrel raised her head and spoke again.  
  
"Please understand. We have to be extremely careful about anybody we wander across, particularly overlanders. You do realize that we are the greatest hope this planet has left to overthrow that tyrant? We've had encounters with humans before, in both good situations and bad. I'll bet you didn't know that Robotnik came from Earth."  
  
Earth?! Incredible. No wonder Scicomp knew about Robotnik and told him never to come to this planet. The thought immediately startled him. And Scicomp was the only entity that knew about this and wouldn't mention it to anyone outside.Well. There was something Scicomp owed the general public, and that was their connection to all this.  
  
"So you see," the squirrel continued, "we have to make sure we can trust you first, whether you came from Earth or not."  
  
"I guess I could understand that, if what you say is true," Jonas answered. There was such a downtrodden look about the people who gawked at him from the open windows. Perhaps they weren't so bad after all. If these guys had any sense of good in them, it was probably okay to trust them. But would they repay him the favor?  
  
"Well then. We'll give you a chance. Our spies are returning with inventory on that ship. Perhaps we can go salvage it before Robotnik does anything with it. In return," the lady emphasized, "we'd like to use some of your wares, if they are of any use at all."  
  
"And then I can go?"  
  
"Certainly."  
  
"Will do, ma'am." Okay, so he would lose a few supplies. He could just blame it on the "incident" he'd tell his boss at Scicomp about. It would obviously happen on the planet Omicrus 4, which was really far away from here. At least he was getting out of here. Or so he hoped. If this woman double-crossed him, he would be at a loss as to what to do.  
  
"Pardon my manners. I am Princess Sally Acorn, rightful heir to the throne of Mobius."  
  
"Jonas Hadron, planet-to-planet salesman." She shook his bound hand from its position against the chair's armrest. He was going to make a comment about the not-so-great state of affairs her regime had allowed, but remembered who really was responsible for the mess. It was better to save it anyways to avoid another backhand across the face by some big, smelly angry guy named Geoffery.  
  
"Nice to make your acquaintance. Mr. St. John will escort you to your quarters for the night, where you can patch up the cuts on your face. We leave in the morning. Geoffery?" Jonas just had to think about him, didn't he? Geoffery, who turned out to be a bulky skunk-like creature, came back inside, untied him, and motioned for him to follow while giving him a dirty look.  
  
"See you in the morning," Sally concluded simply, and closed the door behind them as they left. All Jonas could do was hope he didn't have to share a room with his new buddy.  
  
*****************  
  
"Why is he always picking on me for his mistakes?" Snively whined aloud to nobody in particular as he limped away from his livid uncle's control room. Now he'd have to stay on perfect behavior and have absolutely no slip-ups until he could heal from that severe beating Robotnik had just laid upon him. Either that, or something good would have to come up.  
  
He stumbled to his office and plonked down heavily in his chair, trying to remain conscious for a little while longer. The computer terminal at his side had been set on surveillance mode, so that any detection of intruders found by the city's spy cameras would immediately signal any robots to that area for capture or.otherwise.  
  
The data for each camera had to be checked carefully, one at a time. Snively set about this boring but thankfully low-energy task.  
  
"363.364.365." He counted each one out loud to make sure he didn't miss one. ".366.367.368 - heh heh heh." This one had recent images of the hedgehog holding up a ridiculous drawing of Snively's uncle at the camera. As much as this fool damaged the city and ruined his and Julian's plans, this was entertaining enough to save in a private file in a disk sitting in the computer's hard drive. Maybe he'd taunt the hedgehog with it once he could finally capture him. Snively opened this file now, and went through the process of writing a memory bank for the picture.  
  
He was stopped by one of those annoying pop-up windows that usually said the computer didn't want to work anymore. This message was no different.  
  
"Warning: low memory on disk." Impossible; the last time he'd used the disk, there had been about half the memory still available.  
  
"Stupid piece of silicon." Snively coursed through the files on his disk just to make sure this was true.  
  
What he saw made him start.  
  
There was one file sitting there that he knew he never made. It was a really large file that seemed to be blueprints for some sort of spaceship, titled "The Newcomer." Definitely interested, he opened this file.  
  
It was indeed a spaceship blueprint, diagramming the ship's contents and hidden compartments. And he knew whose it was.  
  
Attached to the blueprint was a note, which Snively readily read.  
  
"This is what's on the ship that the Earthling came in today. The SWATs missed a few hidden compartments that I had to find myself by hacking the ship's terminal, with some nice goodies inside each of them that I left for you. Also, the Knothole people are going to try and take it back tomorrow. Welcome them with a legion of SWATs if you want to capture the Earthling and some principal Knothole members, notably the princess." The message concluded with the vague trademark signature: "The Cleaner."  
  
A smile came to Snively's thin lips. The spy had come through for them again. Too bad he wouldn't give away the location of Knothole as well or that would be the end of the war in a nutshell. The greedy fool apparently wanted to milk Robotropolis for all the money and spare parts possible before he did that.  
  
Oh well, the vital info would come in good time. And then the spy would be taken care of in a nasty way he wouldn't expect. Julian's spies never did figure out that was what would happen to them in the end, because they let their wallets and lack of conscience do the thinking.  
  
Snively found a new disk to store this data, so his uncle wouldn't yell at him for saving the taboo pictures of his foe mocking him. Ejecting the new disk from its drive, he strode back towards Robotnik's control room down the hall, still very sore from the beating, and knocked, peeking his face inside.  
  
"What is it now, you intellectual Lilliputian?!" Still angry, hmm? Julian would definitely cool down after this.  
  
"Our spy's got some good news for you, sir," Snively cooed, holding out the disk.  
  
*****************  
  
Dawn made itself known with a ray of sunlight aimed, of course, right into Jonas' eyes. This was followed by a rather rude shove.  
  
"Get up, overlander," Geoffery hissed, standing over Jonas' makeshift bed. Funny.he was supposed to be alone, with guards outside, awakened by a pleasantly light rap of the knuckles on his door.  
  
"Didn't you ever learn how to knock?" he mumbled groggily.  
  
"I don't want any lip from you, wise guy." They had traded barbs on the way here last night, and it was apparent Geoffery was in no mood to continue.  
  
"Good.so it's established that neither of us have that sort of lifestyle. Not that there's anything wrong with that."  
  
"Shut up!" He was yanked out of the covers and practically thrown onto the floor. "We're leaving in 15 minutes, whether you're dressed for it or not."  
  
Jonas hadn't really changed clothing before passing out; he'd just taken off his boots and started sleeping. He still wore the black pants, navy blue turtleneck, and olive green vest with the company logo that he arrived with. He was going to correct his friend about that, but it probably wasn't a good idea to vex the skunk to the point of fisticuffs. Particularly since the guy looked quite a bit stronger than him.  
  
"Fine, I'll be ready in as many seconds." Jonas slipped on his boots and the two went outside.  
  
"So.how far do we have to go to get there?" he asked, trying to lessen Geoffery's anger at him with casual conversation.  
  
"About forty miles or so."  
  
"I see. So that's about a half-hour trip?"  
  
"No, about thirty seconds."  
  
Jonas blinked. "Say again?"  
  
"We've got the hedgehog, don't we? You had to have seen him go that fast."  
  
"Oh.right." It had been surreal to say the least when Sonic went the speed of -what was a fair comparison, light? - around Jonas like that yesterday. He was probably quick enough to use his momentum to carry a couple extra people. "So.he's carrying us all there? How many people are coming?"  
  
"Aren't you full of questions all of a sudden." This made Jonas decide not to say anything for a while after receiving the answer. If this guy was paranoid enough to smack him around over a bit of logic like he did earlier, it wasn't good to give him any false ideas. "Yes, he's carrying us all there. There's going to be four of us. Sonic, Sally, myself, and you."  
  
"Okay. Just one more thing. Why is it I'm not going to be held under house arrest here?"  
  
The skunk snickered. "We're keeping you at arm's length where you can't possibly try anything funny without us taking you out on the spot. Plus, we'll need you to get inside the thing, won't we."  
  
"Fine then." At least Sally would be on his side and off his case. She seemed reasonable at least, compared to the two macho men he'd be dealing with. All he could hope was that the upcoming events would proceed well. He didn't relish the idea of being executed by a bunch of paranoid human- haters, probably by way of sharpened stick.  
  
They arrived in front of a hut where Sonic and Sally were talking to a jovial looking walrus. The latter held a bunch of electronic devices in his hands, and what appeared to be a large pile of scrap metal lay at his feet. "Scratch that last thought." Maybe this society wasn't really primitive after all.  
  
"Hello, guys," Sally greeted. "Jonas, this is Rotor, our resident engineer." They shook hands. "Before we get to the suits, I'd like to ask you something. Some of our spies found guns aboard your ship yesterday."  
  
Jonas paled. He'd forgotten about the technically illegal rifles and equipment aboard. Now they certainly wouldn't let him go. He'd have to escape later, and that was going to be very tricky if they sent this Sonic character after him.  
  
"Okay," he stammered, deciding to just come clean. "They're not supposed to be there, I know, but my company likes to sell them without telling our government. If you want, you can keep them when we get them. No charge. I'll even let you bring them out."  
  
The suspicion was up. "Is that so? We'll have to think twice about letting you go. I was hoping you came unarmed." Jonas cursed silently as the others shot him looks with mixed reactions. She then thankfully changed the subject. "As our surveyors did yesterday, guys, we're going to be donning a few SWATbot suits that Rotor cleaned out for us." She gestured to the scrap heap. "We'll sneak into your ship and fly it out to a location nearby, and then find a way to get it back here without being tracked. When we get back, we'll deal with you as we see fit. I'll explain more when we get there."  
  
No way was Jonas going to duct tape scraps of sheet metal on and clunk around like a stooge pretending to be a spy. It would be ridiculous and too painfully obvious. He was just about to say so when the walrus broke in.  
  
"This pile here took me a few weeks to take out of the insides of the robots so people could fit inside them," he grinned. "It's been sitting here for months and it's all that most people have seen of these particular suits." He seemed like one obsessed with his work, as he didn't seem to notice that Jonas was a human under arrest. "Let's go inside and try these on." He pointed his thumb to the hut behind him.  
  
Inside were three robots, standing still as stone. They were creepy, yes, but definitely better than the tinfoil refuse outside. Rotor calmly walked up to one of them and yanked off its head, tossing it to a very startled Jonas, who came close to dropping it. Those robots were not his favorite objects in the world, and he was still on guard after almost getting killed by them yesterday.  
  
"This should be a good fit for ya," Rotor said casually. "These babies have built-in data storage and recall, infrared vision, and a bunch of other goodies I installed a week or so ago."  
  
"Thanks, Rotor," congratulated Sally. "These do look nice."  
  
"Enjoy," Rotor beamed.  
  
Oh, Jonas was practically leaping for joy.  
  
*****************  
  
All was quiet in the hangar that Charles Hedgehog had been in earlier. He had left a long time ago and was not present. Neither was anyone else, living or robotic. The giant room was as stone quiet and dark as the polluted pre-dawn sky outside, without any trace of life.  
  
This was ideal for Dino the Cleaner. The lights were out, and nobody home. It was time for his favorite hobby - collecting additional items that he'd thought worthy of keepsake when he first saw them aboard the ship.  
  
Of course, the work that he'd been contracted for by Robotnik was carried out successfully. But certain unspoken incentives were also a part of the payment. It was fair enough. If you hire a treacherous mercenary spy, you ought to expect that he'll pull a couple stunts behind your back. That was how life worked for him and for all his former clients on Mobius.  
  
Now Dino calmly approached the Earthling's freighter. "The simpleton," he snickered to himself. He'd found a bulletin on the ship's log to never land on Mobius, no matter what. What idiot would come to this star system after his planet issued a warning to specifically stay away from here? Some incompetent lackey, no doubt. Or maybe he was an intern who had yet to learn the real rules of the game that no amount of schooling could give a person. Either way, it didn't matter. All the Earthling was worth was another excuse for a paycheck.  
  
The temperament of the guy, coupled with the fact that he was human, guaranteed that he wouldn't be easily accepted by Knothole. Dino had seen that in person. How easy was it going to be, then, to frame him for this little setup that would take place in a few hours? That aspect of his assignment was a mere afterthought. The Earthling would frame himself with his actions. It was possible for him to give the people cause for worry. He'd already been to Knothole and back, and might have taken a peek around the place.  
  
And as for Dino's safety right now? The SWATbots were all ready to go, waiting outside the hangar where their view of inside was blocked, and in an hour or so they'd come inside and overrun the place. That was plenty of time to get what he wanted. The Eggman would have to be still asleep too right now. Otherwise there would be safety cameras and guards everywhere, and he'd looked it over quite a few times a day earlier. Robotnik actually didn't seem to care about this ship or this hangar very much, except as a trap. Other clients had made worse mistakes, Dino supposed.  
  
Now the ship was at arm's length. He input the security code he'd hacked earlier off the terminal inside, and the rear hatch slid open with a warm, welcoming hiss. Strolling inside, he began to raid the compartments that were picked out on the previous visit, carrying all the merchandise he could find. It was a pity he could only hold a small fraction of the ship's entire contents. But it was better that way. Robotnik would probably notice more easily if he took too much.  
  
Carefully closing the compartment doors and slinking out the hatch before shutting it as well, the Cleaner began to make the trip back to his temporary hideout. This job was a piece of cake, and no one, not even that meddling Charles, knew of his treachery. Of course, once Sally was captured, Sonic would also be ensnared with a similar trap. Those two were the key personnel and without them, the resistance movement would crumble. There wouldn't be much use for him except to tell Robotnik where Knothole was, and let the tyrant's armies march the globe.  
  
He would then have to leave. Dino did like the idea of paying the Earth a long-term visit. It was perfect; there were plenty of countries and opportunities to offer him a job. Then he could plunder many other planetary systems all over the galaxy. Maybe he'd have to take the entire ship for himself after all. It held better mileage than anything on Mobius.  
  
*****************  
  
Jonas' arms felt like they were about to fall off.  
  
True, the trip had only taken a matter of seconds. Fast as it was, though, it wasn't comfortable. Having to hang on to the shoulders of the person in front of him as they all traveled at the speed of sound or quicker wasn't good for the muscles. It didn't help that they had to drag along a bunch of heavy robot suits with them as well.  
  
But there they were. He didn't appreciate the blindfold he'd had to wear on the trip. He supposed it ought to be expected, seeing as they still didn't trust him. He was the only one here without a gun, besides Sonic. And his face still stung from the gashes after the not-so-painless swipes of an angry Geoffery.  
  
The blue one had taken off, apparently to create a distraction after going to see some guy named Uncle Chuck. What a name for an undercover agent. It could be a bit more high-class. Then again, what else could one do if most of one's resources had been taken?  
  
Now he wore one of the heavy robot suits, accompanied by the big skunk and Princess Sally, who sported the others. It was eerie that they looked like the creations that he knew bore no soul, conscience, or discernment. Funny. Jonas always wanted to dress up as a Transformer for Halloween as a kid. And now he was a fake member of the aluminum foil army of doom. What a proud moment.  
  
"All right. Let's move in," Sally buzzed over the intercom connecting the three suits. The three clanked out of their hiding place, Sally and Geoffery with laser rifles ready, just like any three average SWATbots on patrol, apparently.  
  
"I have a map uploaded in my visor by Uncle Chuck and Rotor of this part of town. The hangar should be right over.there." The long metallic arm pointed to a large building with an almost equally large retracting door. A smaller door at the right corner offered a more convenient and less noticeable entrance.  
  
They entered and, upon closing the door, became disturbingly aware that the lights weren't on. It was virtually impossible to see anything at all in the room.  
  
"Where's a blasted light switch when you need one?" grumbled Geoffery.  
  
"I can hardly move in this thing," Jonas complained. "Can we take the suits off now?"  
  
"No. There might be an infrared camera in here that would give us away. Speaking of which, there should be a night-vision switch in your helmets, according to Rotor."  
  
After ten or so seconds, both Jonas and Geoffery had found these switches. The three now viewed a long corridor heading to the left, as it should. No guards were around, and everyone felt a little ill at ease as a result.  
  
They turned a corner, and the lights blinked on down the corridor. Not a trace of enemies in sight - no robots, no cameras, no anything. At the end of the hall was the exit into the main hangar. Scicomp's private property lay right there, waiting to be rescued.  
  
"All right, we can leave these suits here for the time being. But we'd better bring the guns along," Sally directed.  
  
After removing the cumbersome fashion reject, the trio entered the hallway with a significant drop in caution, as nobody seemed to be around. They walked for about ten or twenty yards.  
  
And were promptly greeted with the sound of a million or so laser rifles being cocked and aimed right at their hearts.  
  
"Just how did so many robots appear so quickly," was all that Jonas could think.  
  
"I'll bet you're all wondering. Just how did so many robots appear so quickly?" a menacing voice stated. Jonas decided not to think any more for a while. "Well, I'll tell you. First, this hangar is replete with hiding places for a legion of troops. And also, a certain somebody decided to let me in on this daring little raid." This darkly laced speech preceded its producer, a fairly tall and really fat man who waddled through the entourage of squadron after squadron. He grinned obnoxiously, happy that he'd made his catch.  
  
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted you, Hadron!" Geoffery hissed under his breath.  
  
"You sold us out! I'll get you for this!" cursed Sally.  
  
"Yes, heh heh heh," the fat man chuckled. "One of your own has indeed betrayed you."  
  
Jonas had had enough.  
  
"Oh, bull [pies]!" he finally declared to anyone who would listen. "I was on my way to another star system altogether not 24 hours ago! You had your stupid robots shooting at me during that time period! Why in the world would I even think of involving myself with you?!" A lot of hand gestures and arm swinging were used during this tirade, despite the imminent threat to his life. He didn't care. He had had it with nobody listening to him.  
  
"What are you talking about?" the large one mused aloud. Then he started laughing again, like an evil Santa Claus. "Ohh.you two thought that this fool had something to do with this! Don't be so silly! I've never seen him before! And why would I enlist a spy that you'd never trust enough to allow in your own quarters?"  
  
Sally and Geoffery looked at each other with surprise - and did Jonas sense a tinge of distrust between the two? He might have thought about trying to defuse the mutual suspicion if they weren't all held at gunpoint and if they didn't just falsely accuse him of a serious crime. They deserved it anyway, the morons.  
  
"Well then, who could have.?" Geoffery mused, still stricken with shock. Sally was fiddling around with some scrap of paper as she looked up to say this. Probably some love note to take solace in. Jonas didn't care at the moment, and just wished she'd put it away in light of the present situation. Surprisingly, she dropped it to the floor.  
  
"So you really want to know, eh?" the large one hissed. "Let's just say he calls himself 'the Cleaner.'"  
  
Sally gasped. "Not Dino! How could he?"  
  
"Is that what you call him." The smile was instantly gone off the fat man's face, as was the interest from his voice. "No matter. You'll never get back alive to Knothole to tell your friends. Take them to an especially dank prison cell, and escort the ship to a more discrete location," he directed the nearest SWATbots. "Soon, I, Ivo Robotnik, will vanquish all opposition to my rule on this planet!" He waddled back into the sea of gray, cackling maniacally.  
  
So this was Robotnik. Jonas swore at himself yet again for not bringing a map.  
  
****************  
  
Sonic dashed back to the arranged meeting place inside the hangar, gloating over the chaos he'd created. It still didn't occur to 'Buttnik that chasing after him only allowed others to mess up his empire when he wasn't paying attention. Sally and the others probably had the ship all ready to go by now, waiting for him, for once. It had been the other way around way too many times. Dino was around someplace, too, having agreed to stay behind to make sure the ship wasn't moved or tampered with. That meant four people to get back home.  
  
He halted abruptly about a few hundred yards away from the hangar to avoid any unwanted attention. After making sure the coast was clear, he stole quietly to the right hand door, where Sal was supposed to have gone in earlier. He charged in, and immediately stubbed his toe on an object he couldn't see because it was pitch black. A few choice words later, he groped around for a light switch, not caring if a camera caught him because he could always get away fast enough.  
  
Good. There was a hallway as there should be. Sonic cruised down the hall, made the left, and breezed into the open.  
  
Nothing.  
  
No Sally, no overlander, no Geoffery. And no ship.  
  
Could it be that they'd flown it home without him? Nahh. Sally would insist that he be accounted for before everyone left. What exactly happened?  
  
Sonic did a quick scan of the area, looking for any trace of his three teammates. Eventually, he found one - a note. Sally had scrawled it rather frantically. This didn't look good. Sonic braced himself and read it.  
  
"Sonic - Have been tricked by one of our own and captured. We're in prison. Sally."  
  
What?! Perfect. Sally had taken specific care not to get into any scraps, but every so often she did get in trouble. That aspect wasn't any problem; she and the others could be rescued easily by Sonic's incredible foot speed.  
  
The cause for concern was word of a traitor. Somebody had been able to let 'Buttnik know of their plans this morning. But who? No one currently at Knothole was untrustworthy enough to do such a thing. Spies had infiltrated the base before, but Sonic had figured security had tightened up so that it wouldn't happen again. Background checks ensured there weren't any current members that could or would sneak out information. So how could it be.  
  
Sonic's mouth grimaced in a furious display of teeth. That overlander he'd picked up yesterday. It had to have been him. It all made sense. He didn't know quite how Hadron had done it - probably had something to do with his connections with Earth, maybe another ship in space or something - but it couldn't possibly be anyone else. Dino was still around here somewhere too, probably dead by now if the human had gotten his hands on him. And what if Hadron had given away Knothole? That would be a far greater problem than the infiltration.  
  
Certainly, Sonic would rescue Sally and Geoffery. And then, the overlander was going to pay. Sonic would relish pounding him into the dirt before dispatching him as a threat to Mobian freedom. With a grunt, he took off for the prison cells.  
  
******************  
  
Jonas sulked by himself in the corner, as far away from the others as possible. Sure, in theory he could get out. His belt had lock picks and such that could get him out of most situations. But the robots that held blasters level with his head implicitly suggested that it wasn't a great idea. And they didn't go to sleep either. It was hard to see them in the gloom of the hallway, but he knew they were there.  
  
So there he sat, with two people that couldn't make up their minds about him apparently, who were talking in hushed voices with each other.  
  
"How in the world did we let Dino trick us?"  
  
"I don't know, Princess! I checked his background and thought it was airtight!"  
  
"Well next time, do a better job!"  
  
"Sorry already!"  
  
"Don't worry about it now. We have to figure a way out. Otherwise, if Sonic doesn't find that note, we're stuck here until the Eggman comes."  
  
"How about we ask if the human has any ideas?"  
  
"After you almost ripped his head off yesterday? After we accused him of something he didn't do? Be my guest."  
  
Were there earplugs in his belt? Jonas decided to check.  
  
"I don't know, do you think we can trust him? We trusted Dino, after all."  
  
"Still, he's got to get out of here too."  
  
"Good point. We'll only use him as a last resort." "I can hear you, you know," Jonas muttered rather loudly.  
  
"So.now what?" They were ignoring him.  
  
"We'll just have to try and think of something."  
  
"I'll bet if that shifty overlander over there in the corner had lockpicks, which he does, we might have something to start with," Jonas spoke again. Heck, if they didn't care what he said, and he couldn't leave, why not have some fun?  
  
"All right, just bear with us, would you?" Sally barked as she turned on Jonas, a hint of impatience in her voice.  
  
"Hey, I'm not trying to uproot your little social clique, but 'twould be nice to be overtly told what's going on in a situation that's, what is it called, life and death."  
  
"Shut your face, human!" Geoffery followed this order with a sneer. "We'll talk to you when we're good and ready."  
  
Sally sighed. "Shut up, Geoffery. Look, it's not every day we're forced to deal with traditional enemies." Jonas wanted to remind her poignantly and with much colorful language that he wasn't with the humans of this planet, but held his tongue. "We're sorry if we come off as a bit rude. Truce?"  
  
Jonas didn't respond right away. He had been under quite a bit of pressure lately, especially with this enemy race status he seemed to share with an obese guy who liked robots too much. Thinking it over, however, he did remember that he was talking to a deposed ruler with at least more justice and goodness in her than the robot fanatic. She was just trying to protect her people. That was more than reasonable. And Geoffery, big brute that he was, simply seemed to want the world to be the way it used to be. He didn't have to act like a jerk about it, though, but that could be hashed out.  
  
"Okay, fine, truce," Jonas said finally. "Sorry about the rudeness on my part."  
  
"No problem." Sally smiled for the first time, perhaps ever for all he knew. "So.any ideas?"  
  
"Not really. I've got lock picks, but we'll probably get shot using them."  
  
"Is that so? You're assuming the SWATbots will be paying attention to us, though."  
  
Jonas now had an even better opinion of these two.  
  
"Really?"  
  
Sally produced an electronic device from her boot. "This signal scrambler will make one of the SWATs see us as fellow units and the others as enemies. It'll start shooting, and that'll distract the others from us as we get out of here."  
  
"How long will we have?" Jonas asked.  
  
"As long as the host robot survives, which is as long as it takes for the other 'bots to aim accurately. That gives us about ten seconds or so."  
  
"It's going to be tight, but it's our only chance," Geoffery added.  
  
"All right then. Let's do it."  
  
Sally edged toward the bars. She then pretended to tussle her hair as a ruse, as if trying to think of a way out of all this. Jonas, meanwhile, quietly took the lockpicking tools out of his belt and gave a spare set to Geoffery. Then, quickly, flippantly, Sally tossed the scrambler between the bars and towards the nearest robot.  
  
And all three watched in horror as a familiar but none-too-friendly hand appeared out of nowhere to snatch it out of the air.  
  
"Interesting," Robotnik mused as he crushed the device between his fingers. "I bet it might work too, if I wasn't on my way here." The gate to the cell opened, with a couple of SWATbots stepping forward to assure no attempts to escape. "I wish to speak with the human.personally." The closer of the two robots yanked Jonas off the ground and clumsily took him out of the cell. The door slammed shut, and Sally and Geoffery looked on as Robotnik followed him off back into the darkness.  
  
**************  
  
Sonic sprinted towards the usual dungeon site beneath the main headquarters of his mortal enemy, with another enemy on his mind.  
  
"I'll kill him," he swore to himself repeatedly. What was Sal thinking? She should never have trusted any overlander, let alone that shifty character that turned up yesterday. It was the unspoken rule in Knothole. Humans had been the enemy from square one. Sonic still didn't buy that outer-space nonsense that Hadron guy gave everyone.  
  
Now the creep had sold them all out, in a method Sonic was busy trying to piece together, though he had no clues yet as to how. It didn't matter. The man was pulp, as far as Sonic was concerned. Then, he'd have to find out just how much 'Buttnik had found out about Knothole. It occurred to him earlier that there was no way Hadron could have given away their base; Sally wasn't so gullible as to let him track their way here. But he sure could have fed the Eggman quite a bit.  
  
"Sonic! Over here!"  
  
The hedgehog stopped immediately, turning to a hall to his right. Now going at a slower pace, he made his way about ten cells down and turned a corner into a larger room with a single cell in the center.  
  
Well, there were Sally and Geoffery all right. They didn't seem too much the worse for wear. And there were also five SWATbots guarding them, not even looking his way. Dumb things, he chuckled to himself.  
  
It took Sonic perhaps four seconds to curl into a ball and cut a swath through them all. He would have been quicker but he'd had to land and pivot to take out the one that wasn't standing in the straight line the rest were all stupidly in.  
  
"How'd you know it was me, guys?" he asked afterward, trying to break open the lock.  
  
"How many people do we know that cause a visible Doppler effect going past us?" Geoffery deadpanned.  
  
"Thank goodness you've found us, Sonic," Sally said, kissing Sonic through the bars on the cheek. "I don't know what I'd do without you."  
  
"W.well, thanks!" Sonic stuttered. He froze there for a moment, transfixed as usual whenever Sally kissed him. Geoffery, meanwhile, was busy picking the locks. He hid a sneer of disgust from his allies' romance as the lock finally gave way.  
  
"Hang on a second, I'll get you guys out of here," said Sonic. Another five seconds, three miles, and many turns later, the three came to a halt outside of Robotropolis towards the side where Knothole lay, forty miles away.  
  
"Did you get my note?" Sally blurted out, not forgetting about the more urgent business at hand.  
  
"Yeah! That jerk Hadron ain't getting away from me, either! You guys sit tight. I've still got to find Dino.and them I'm going back to find that guy before he does any more damage!"  
  
"Sonic, hold on - " began Sally, but it was too late. Sonic had dashed off, leaving behind his trademark sonic boom that blew her and Geoffery back about twenty feet.  
  
"Blast," muttered Geoffery as they both stood. "I really wish that little puke would give us a bit of warning before he did that."  
  
"That 'little puke' saved both our lives, Geoffery."  
  
"Okay, okay, that was uncalled for. I'll send him my thanks later."  
  
"Glad to hear it," Sally replied without really paying attention as she stared down the fiery path that her right-hand man had blazed. "I just wish he knew that he's going after the wrong person."  
  
"Ah, well, one less overlander to worry about anyways. He seemed decent though," Geoffery mused.  
  
"I know. Yikes, I wonder what hell Robotnik's putting him through right now."  
  
They both quieted down, sobered by the thought.  
  
****************  
  
"Are you quite comfortable?" the fat man cooed. Jonas wasn't quite expecting the cushy chair he now sat in, a hearty drink in his hand, and a new jumpsuit over his other clothes. He had more envisioned a freakish torture device involving some nasty-looking electrodes and maniacal laughter. Well, he wasn't about to complain.  
  
In a way, it almost made a surreal sort of sense for this planet. Hospitality meant getting shot at and having one's head swacked about with hands and hard objects, while hostility this situation. It reminded him of those "opposite day" games he'd had way, way back in grade school.  
  
"Umm.yes, I suppose so," Jonas answered.  
  
"Good. Snively? Get our friend some more ale, would you?" The midget that was apparently Robotnik's nephew scurried towards Jonas. "He's such a talented worker. Prodigious, you might say."  
  
"Watch and see how 'prodigious' becomes 'punching bag' in three seconds flat," Snively whispered in quite the bitter tone. It was sufficient reminder of what evil the mad scientist stood for. Jonas wouldn't be fooled by whatever lies he had prepared.  
  
"So.ah, if it's okay, sir, I'd like to know why you're doing all this when I'm your prisoner."  
  
"Ah. You'd like to get straight to the point. That's what I like to see. No dallying with trivialities."  
  
Jonas only responded with a questioning look.  
  
"The point of all this, my dear boy, is a proposition. Would you like to work for me? I am on the verge of cleaning out the world of inferior, sub- human beings and the primitive opposition to progress that they embody. You've got contacts with Earth and a supply freighter. If you'd care to join me, we can introduce this planet to the technology that you possess and that we are struggling to achieve. Perhaps." Robotnik's tone changed to a voracious demand. ".you might be willing to tell me where their nearest base is."  
  
"I should have figured this much," Jonas thought. He was grateful to know enough of the truth from Scicomp, although that group of individuals wasn't exactly wholly devoted to God's truths either.  
  
"So, what do you say? Is it a deal?"  
  
"You know," Jonas began, "I've had to spend a night with these 'sub-human' beings. Although it was rough, they seem quite human to me in their actions. And from what their leader's told me, it seems you hold very little respect for life, even that of your own species. I've also seen some of your side projects when I landed." He shuddered at the thought of the freaks he'd seen in those glass containers yesterday. What was it about them."There appeared to be a couple of what used to be humans in there. And that tirade of yours when you caught us isn't encouraging."  
  
Jonas leaned in on a now-frowning Robotnik. "You've got to come up with much more than that to convince me you're not the bloodthirsty, lying, cruel tyrant I see you to be."  
  
Robotnik growled. "Those freaks are what resulted from the frequent attacks we've had to endure from those scum rodents. We've been on our guard against any intruders since they began laying siege to us from afar. I apologize for the initial treatment. You must understand." The quick, uncaring tone belied these sugar-coated words.  
  
"I do understand. I understand what you are and what I've seen and heard. And that's why I want to get off this planet and never go back. I can never be a pawn of yours."  
  
Robotnik dropped his guise completely.  
  
"You insouciant fool! You recalcitrant remedial-brained refuse!!"  
  
"And you suck, too."  
  
The mad scientist took a moment to calm himself. "Very well. If you wish to be allied with those rodents, you can share their accursed fate. And then.it's the roboticizer for you." He let out a goofy chuckle. "Snively! Throw him back in the cell and prepare the gene manipulator!" That really didn't sound good.  
  
Snively, who had been standing politely to one side, now withdrew a laser pistol from his belt and aimed it at Jonas' chest. "Come along," he said coldly.  
  
*****************  
  
The search was becoming fruitless. Hadron could be anywhere in this entire megalopolis. Hmph, then it would take a whole week to find him, if he didn't find his ship first and get lost completely, but Sonic would get the job done. He couldn't just let that treacherous jerk blow their cover, at least without paying for it.  
  
That would have been a good idea, to ask Sally and St. Jerk where he could possibly be. It did seem like Sally was trying to tell him something about Hadron's whereabouts. For once Sonic wished he wasn't so impatient. Dino would have to sit tight until he could find the human and end the threat.  
  
At least he could deduce where Hadron might be. The overlander did have some brains, so he wouldn't just be waiting in Robotnik's chambers. No, he would be hiding like the coward he was somewhere. It would take some work to get away from the security cameras -  
  
Sonic stopped right where he was, narrowly avoiding splashing into sewer drainage near a factory. Of course. The security cameras were everywhere, floating about and looking for intruders. The guy didn't seem familiar with the territory, so he might blunder across a screen in a station somewhere. Then Sonic could run to where he was, and make him talk, by force if needed, and get the extent of the damage done. He'd haul whatever was left back to Knothole for a treason trial. All just as soon as he located Hadron.  
  
And he knew of just the place to look.  
  
******************  
  
"Don't try anything funny," Snively sneered.  
  
"Oh, too bad, I really feel like a million laughs," Jonas thought. It wasn't totally hopeless, though. All he had to do was wait for Snively to lock him in and go away and then he'd ditch his cell as fast as he could pick a lock. Now if only he could avoid getting ventilated by a bunch of mindless SWATbots standing around the cell. But he had to try.  
  
They rounded the last of many, many identical turns, and appeared at the cell he was in before. It was in almost the exact same state as when he'd left.  
  
Except the two other people that were there, well, weren't. And the SWATbots were dismantled and in smoking pieces on the floor.  
  
"What in the." Snively gasped, looking away from Jonas for just a second. This was all that was needed to grab the gun away from a flabbergasted dwarf's hand, which Jonas did.  
  
"All right, mister prodigious," Jonas commanded, pointing the pistol between Snively's eyes, "unlock the cage and get inside. Now!"  
  
Snively did so, whimpering in fear all the way.  
  
"Now throw me the keys!" Jonas grabbed the tossed item out of the air, quickly locking Snively inside. "Try not to freak out too much," he smiled.  
  
"P-please don't kill me!" Snively pleaded.  
  
"Hmm.let me think about that." Jonas paused as his brain pretended to work. "Okay, I won't!" He slipped outside and ran for it.  
  
Placing the keys underneath the jumpsuit and in his pocket for a moment, he decided after a few steps that he didn't really need them any more and that it would be a perfect waste of a cell lock to have to replace. So, he fished the keys back out, throwing them to the ground and leaving a terrified Snively shut safely behind. The freighter could be anywhere and he had no time to waste in finding it.  
  
****************  
  
"Hey, Sonie. What's the rush? Sally didn't tell me you were going to stop by."  
  
Chuck had just slipped away from patrol duty to check a few spycams at his hideout for a few minutes. He was a bit taken off guard when he found his nephew in front of his computer console, toes tapping as usual when he had to stand still. Sonic hadn't even looked up to acknowledge his uncle's arrival, an unusual and bad action if a SWAT discovered this place. Oh well, he didn't need to worry here. "Probably used to me clanking around in here," he chuckled to himself.  
  
"No time for scheduling, Unc. A dirty overlander's probably gotten inside info from us, and he sold out Sal and Geoff. Now I got to find him before he gives away Knothole and blows our cover completely."  
  
"Are they all right? Do you know where they are?" Chuck was almost afraid to ask.  
  
"Relax, I found them and dropped them off outside the city. Sally was trying to tell me where the scumbag is, but - "  
  
"Let me guess. You ran off?" Sonic nodded sheepishly. "You've got to learn at least a little bit of patience, Sonie."  
  
"I know, I know. And I will after this is over." Sonic gazed a little more intently at the screen. "There he is! Running around in the prison cells, and probably wondering where his hostages are. He's even wearing the uniform too."  
  
"Be careful. Humans can be shifty types, you know. And he's got resources from off Mobius."  
  
"Oh, I'm more than ready for him, Uncle Chuck. Don't worry about me." Sonic headed for the door. "Take care!" The door slammed and the traditional sonic boom that followed Sonic's dramatic exits made its impact on the outside of the hovel. Chuck never could witness that burst of power without being proud of his nephew.  
  
He was about to sit down when the intercom in his computer went off. A message from Nicole, no doubt. So Sally would have something to say after all over her personal pocket computer.  
  
"Chuck?"  
  
"You're too late, Sally. Sonic's come and gone."  
  
"Rats! If I had just thought to use Nicole sooner!"  
  
"Why? What's the matter?"  
  
"The human's not the guy who betrayed us!"  
  
Chuck gasped.  
  
"Oh no.Then who."  
  
"It's Dino the Cleaner. We never suspected it could be him, after all this time! Do you know where we could find him?"  
  
"Not offhand. But I can look." Chuck sat down at his console and typed madly away. If he could somehow pinpoint another non-robotic life force around here and determine it to be Dino, maybe something could be done after all. "If I find him, I'll send a tracer of his coordinates to Nicole and you can track him down from there."  
  
"Thanks. We'll be standing by."  
  
Chuck still couldn't believe it. Dino? How did he.?  
  
****************  
  
There was the ship. It hadn't taken too long to find the thing. All Jonas had had to do was assume that a really large spacecraft would be sitting in a really large area, like, say, another hangar. After encountering an amazing lack of resistance, he'd picked the first one he saw and peeked inside, and sure enough, there it was. Fortunately, it still looked to be in one piece and not the least bit dismantled as of yet. Jonas punched in the keycode and bolted inside once his password was accepted, chucking Snively's pistol onto the copilot seat as a souvenir. It was time to blow this place.  
  
The thought had occurred to him to see if anyone else was down here against his or her will. Jonas really didn't want to bother; he was in a hurry and wanted to get out of here more than anything. But still.if what Sally said was true.things didn't look so hot for the innocents around here. All things considered, he didn't like leaving the place in its present condition.  
  
Aw, what the hey. They had that really fast Sonic guy, that really smart walrus, and a bunch of other capable personnel. They could take care of this without his meddling.  
  
And who cared really? It was no sweat off his nose. He'd been treated like crap by both sides of this conflict all the time he was here. He had things to do. Like get back to Earth at faster-than-recommended warp through a wormhole and think up a quick lie so his salary wouldn't get docked and he wouldn't get canned.  
  
Still...he'd seen and heard about quite a bit. Thoughts shifted to those horrid - things - that were there yesterday in those glass tubes. He couldn't help them out at all, he knew. They stuck in his mind because they almost looked.familiar. Jonas didn't know why, they just did. He'd also seen the oppression in the people's eyes in Knothole. And then there was the talk about some dread device called the roboticizer. He couldn't just leave and not do something to at least understand what was going on.  
  
Oh, sure he could. Could he?  
  
Jonas shrugged and reached into his pockets for the keys to the ignition.  
  
They weren't there.  
  
Frowning, he checked under the jumpsuit, forgetting about it as a nuisance. There was his other pants pocket. Ah, here were some keys. Jonas brought them out.  
  
The prison cell keys that he thought were the ones he'd thrown away on the way back  
  
This was absolutely unbelievable. He should never have put these keys in his pocket. Then the ones he needed would be here and not lying on the floor in the bloody prison.  
  
Jonas shook his head in frustration as he fumbled through one of the contraband compartments for a fully loaded rifle and an armored vest. He was going to regret this. Finding the items he wanted, he suited up, leapt back outside and closed the rear hatch behind. It had taken ten minutes to find his way here, and so he had ten minutes to kick himself on the way back.  
  
He was beginning to hate his life.  
  
****************  
  
"Snively, report! SWATbots, report!"  
  
Dr. Ivo Robotnik had been trying to contact his nephew for some time now. The speaker by the prisoner cell in question remained unresponsive. He had had enough. If Snively's incompetence was the cause of all this, another beating was in order.  
  
"Very well. I shall investigate myself," he spoke into the intercom, and shut it off irritably. It really didn't take that long to throw an enemy into a cell, now, did it? He strode to the elevator and pushed the button of the floor on which the prison bracket of the building was located. It was going to be a long walk, too. Ivo hated walking.  
  
Perhaps that hedgehog had come - again - and rescued the rodents - again. And that Hadron fellow went with them too, probably. Oh well, they certainly didn't trust him enough to let him get back to his ship. Despite not being of this world, he was an overlander, just like Robotnik. And Robotnik had more than done his part to make sure rodents and humans hated each other for a very long time.  
  
Besides, Dino was still undetected and would probably kill all of his targets in their sleep. The raccoon had been around here somewhere, under the pretense of spying on his boss. All the loose ends would tie themselves up.  
  
The elevator door opened and Robotnik strode out into the prison cells. Many of them had broken bars and other signs of disorder from that hedgehog's earlier breakout missions. It was becoming too easy for that rodent. That meant it was probably time to build a new prison where nobody could find it. It would be worth it not to lose any more captives, and Robotnik could already think of a bunch of places to put the cells.  
  
Finally. The room was beyond that corridor. Robotnik took a few more steps.  
  
And saw the destroyed SWATbots. Robotnik let out a choice word, but wasn't the least bit surprised. That was it. He was building a new, secret prison.  
  
He waddled as fast as he could into the room. Sitting in the cage was none other than Snively.  
  
"How did this happen?!" he roared at his cowering nephew.  
  
"I.I don't know, sir! I was as shocked as you and the human got the gun away from me and threw me in here!"  
  
"Idiot! Where did the others go?"  
  
"I don't know! They weren't here when we arrived! Really!"  
  
"Blast! They've slipped right through my fingers again!" He hated being so close to triumph and having it snatched away. And so many times. He'd get those rodents sooner or later and the frustration would be an afterthought.  
  
Hadron was alone and on the run. Fine. He'd probably bail out on the rebels, find the ship, and go home. That was acceptable, as he probably didn't ever want to come back, judging from the meeting when he refused Robotnik's offer. Ivo had more pressing matters than to worry about than some Earthling getting away. Besides, he wouldn't try to help the rodents because it was a safe bet that they didn't like him and had treated him poorly. Robotnik had seen the cuts on Hadron's face.  
  
"Very well. Are the keys anywhere?"  
  
"I heard a clink outside, sir. Those could be the keys." Snively sounded like he didn't necessarily want his angry uncle to go get them and free him from the secure cage.  
  
Robotnik quickly scanned the floor of the corridor nearby, and saw a set of keys on the floor. Picking them up, he tried to open the door, and discovered that he couldn't.  
  
"#$%#. These are the wrong keys. The fool must have yours. You wait right there, Snively," he menaced, "and I'll find spare keys. And then you will know the meaning behind failure. It boggles my mind that you must re- learn the lesson so often." He clenched his fist as Snively whined. Tossing the keys back on the floor, Robotnik turned and walked back towards the elevator, hitting the buttons back to his control room. The doors closed just before another overlander ran inside with chest armor and a laser rifle, and neither saw or heard the other.  
  
******************  
  
There were the stupid keys, right near the cell where he had left them. After Jonas put them back in his pockets underneath the jumpsuit, it occurred to him to see if anybody had been left behind. He'd just do a quick check of the jail cells to ease his conscience. There didn't seem to be anybody down there, so there shouldn't be anybody to waste his time. If he did happen across some people, they could hopefully find their own way out.  
  
After tracing his steps back to the jail cells, Jonas went as fast as he could up and down. Aside from Snively, who was still unhappily in the cell, he didn't see anyone down five hallways. Fine, he would do one more hallway, and then he could jet. Casting a brief glance, he didn't see anybody at first. He began to turn to leave -  
  
"What? You again!"  
  
Rats! "Always the last place you look," he thought. The orange fox kid with two tails that Jonas had seen earlier was now reviling him from a nondescript cell. How did he get here?  
  
"I knew you were no good."  
  
"And what might you be talking about?" Jonas asked with a bit of flamboyancy to his voice, just because it had become tiresome to convey irritation.  
  
"Look at you, wearing Robotnik's uniform."  
  
Jonas glanced downwards at the clothing Robotnik gave him. That would indeed be a detail he overlooked. The outside was a two-tone, puke green jumpsuit with what appeared to be insignia on his chest. He really ought to have known better. Jumpsuits the color of vomit and evil regimes almost always went hand in hand in other worlds.  
  
"You know what? I can easily fix that." Jonas took off the chest armor for a moment and unzipped it, revealing his real clothes under it. Another logo, that of Scicomp, glistened pleasant silver from his vest. Putting the armor back on, he slid the laser rifle to the fox, unlocking the door after the kid had picked up the gun. "Look - I'm really on your side, okay? I just escaped myself. I don't have to be here and you can either take it at face value, or shoot me, or wait here for the, ah, roboticizer or whatever. So do you believe me now?"  
  
The fox was silent.  
  
"Come on! I can get you out of here right now. No tricks at all. What do you say?"  
  
"Weird gun. Is this the contraband one Bunnie was talking about?" Some acknowledgement. Right now, it would have to do.  
  
"Err.yeah, you could call it that. And might I ask what you're doing here?" He really didn't have time for this. He should have just kept both sets of keys and left.  
  
"I.ah.I was performing undercover work inside the cell."  
  
Jonas folded his arms.  
  
"Okay, okay! I was tagging along behind you guys and you didn't know about it and I got caught! Sonic and Aunt Sally were sort of close by but they didn't see me because this hallway is too far away from the way in and out! Just don't tell Aunt Sally, will ya? Please?? She'll never let me come out here again!"  
  
Jonas snorted. "Fine, I won't tell her. It's the least I can do in return for you not trying to get me hit over the head with a blunt instrument again." His skull still hurt a bit from their introduction yesterday. He unlocked the door to the fox's cell and the kit leapt outside. "Tails, is it?"  
  
"Yep! That's my name."  
  
"Do you know the way out?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Is there anyone else down here?"  
  
"I didn't see anyone, but we should check."  
  
"Good idea. Let's take a look." Just like that, Jonas had roped himself into more of it. What am I thinking, he wondered rhetorically. He threw the uniform into the cell and slammed the door, and the two began to gallop through the miserable hallway. "By the way, how exactly did you keep up with us going at mach 1?"  
  
"Easy! I can make my tails spin really fast and fly! I followed the trail of fire behind you. I do it all the time!" Tails beamed with pride.  
  
Jonas blinked. Why not just accept this statement at face value too? This planet had been surreal enough for him. He could have a nervous breakdown and go insane from all of it later, on the autopilot trip home. First, he had to run this little errand of finding and freeing prisoners, and then he'd look for his ship to even think about getting home.  
  
*****************  
  
A gray, leather-muscled 43-year old raccoon smiled from the control booth he now sat in, courtesy of his temporary employer. The hedgehog's weakness would be Dino's strength. Sonic's impatience had kept him from learning of the true traitor's identity. Now the hapless overlander would be destroyed and the Cleaner could at least make a getaway.  
  
He sat back in his chair and stretched his arms. It wasn't easy to relax after his cover had been blown almost completely. Of course, the princess knew and would no doubt tell the others. So did the hedgehog's roboticized uncle, Sir Charles, and that goon Geoffery St. John. Sonic would more than definitely try to hunt him down. This was going to bring a premature end to his scheme.  
  
Or perhaps not.  
  
The rifle leaning against his desk had been custom-made for one of the best bounty hunters on Mobius. Not only could it shoot the standard laser beams, it could also fire old-fashioned metallic bullets, spew forth a stream of flame, and for flair, there was a crossbow attachment on top of it all. The bounty hunter never said why he'd had it made this way when he entrusted Dino to accompany him. He never saw it coming when Dino rigged one of his own booby traps to kill him, either.  
  
Now the gun was his, all at the low price of the eternal hatred of one Fang the Sniper, aka Nack, the deceased's only friend. Funny - Fang wasn't supposed to have any friends. Well, too bad for him. He didn't have any now.  
  
There would have to be a background story behind the five deaths. Hadron would have to be taken down by the heroes of Knothole. First, however, he would have to eliminate the two slower Freedom Fighters, and then take care of Chuck with a garbage compactor or something. Dino could be creative about this detail when the time came. Finally, he'd fatally wound Sonic before the hedgehog dealt the last blow.  
  
Then Dino could flee on foot to Knothole, tell everybody this false story and send a pall of melancholy over the camp. Then he'd use Nicole, which would of course be stolen from Sally, to get a message to Robotnik and tell him where Knothole actually was. They wouldn't have the morale to resist the onslaught.  
  
It was so perfect. Where should he begin, though? Geoffery and Sally were sitting ducks without Sonic to run them home. Chuck wasn't going anywhere either and could be turned in to Robotnik at any time to be demolished. They could wait. Sonic himself would have to be taken by surprise, and fairly early on, but only if he could be approached with enough stealth.  
  
Why not kill the human first? He'd be excellent bait to lure in Sonic. Hadron would have to be caught before he found his ship and took off, however. So, Dino could just find his way back towards the hangar where the ship was and hide until Sonic found them both. A laser bolt should do the trick and make it look dramatic enough. Then, after Sonic had thanked Dino and turned his back on him.  
  
This was getting a bit too overdramatic, and Dino knew it. But he'd have to pull it off. There was no more money to be had now that his identity was known, and he couldn't trust Robotnik not to do something horrible to him once the world was conquered. The human's freighter was still untouched and spaceworthy. So, escape was quite doable. And at least he could salvage his job duties and get away cleanly. But he'd have to find the ship, now moved to unknown quarters, after he offed the unsuspecting Freedom Fighters. Right now.  
  
Dino shouldered his gun and hustled to the door. His timing had to be perfect or the whole plan would fail.  
  
****************  
  
Robotnik was rather confused as he looked at the spy cameras' screens in his control room.  
  
There was the hedgehog.  
  
He was coming into the city again. "What for?" Robotnik wondered. Sonic had already embarrassed the tyrant enough and usually would walk away after trashing his buildings to a degree of his liking. The number he did today on a legion of SWATbots was a perfect example of this.  
  
The logic wasn't there. Who cared, he was just a dumb rodent anyways. But how to make him keep still enough.  
  
Robotnik let his eyes drift and light on another screen. This time, he saw the human, still here and running around the prison cells, freeing people. Blast. What was he still doing here? And now he was helping the rebels?  
  
"Where are you, Hadron? I won't let you give away Knothole!" he heard Sonic say aloud from the first screen. So that was it. Sonic thought that the Earthling was Robotnik's spy. It was the same mistake that the Princess and the goon made earlier. Wasn't that interesting.  
  
Robotnik decided not to take the elevator down to free Snively just yet. He had just installed plasma grenade launchers in this area for extra protection of crucial buildings. Now, if Sonic got the Earthling bait in the field - and one or both of them would get there sooner or later - he could test out his new toy on them. If the human got out first, then the hostages would be fair game as well. Sonic would be more of a challenge. But then again, close did count in hand grenades as well as horseshoes. A little more effort, yes, but more than worth it.  
  
Robotnik liked hunting. And the best part was, he could cook and kill simultaneously with this weapon. He was going to stay right here, where the trigger buttons were for the launchers, and wait.  
  
********************  
  
It was finally really beginning to click for Jonas what exactly was happening on this planet.  
  
He stared at the six inmates he and Tails had freed as they stood in an elevator, waiting for a hundred floors to pass. They were a battered, tattered crowd indeed. There was a rabbit with several bruises on his back and at his temples, shaking visibly. He had apparently undergone shock treatment here. Next to him was a female badger with rent, bloodied clothing covering several cuts and other ailments. The others all had one or two metallic limbs where natural ones were supposed to be. They all looked at him with varying degrees of suspicion.  
  
"And just how do you expect us to trust him, Tails?" demanded an ornery wolf, leaning on his cane for balance against his bionic leg. "He's an overlander!"  
  
"W-well I t-t-trust him," the rabbit replied with as firm a voice as he could muster. "H-he g-got Tails out, d-didn't he? H-he could have s-shot us, y-y-you know."  
  
"How do you know he's not trying to trick us?"  
  
The freed prisoners began to bicker with each other. Tails tried his best to calm them down and convince them that they were in good hands. Jonas would try talking to them too, but some wouldn't speak or listen to him and the wolf had even threatened him. Like they could afford to think he was an enemy.  
  
Normally, he would be frustrated enough by these actions to roar a lecture at them and probably give their location away. But now, he was beginning to wonder. Not once had he seen a happy scene in this whole planet, on either side of the conflict. From the looks of those he rescued, the exact scope to which humans had devastated these people was coming out of the woodworks. He hadn't seen any badly treated "overlanders" back in Knothole either.  
  
"Come on already! You gotta believe him!" Tails pleaded. "He escaped from one of these cells just like you! Besides, I've got a gun on him, so he's got to be telling the truth. He's not going to roboticize you! He's not even from Mobius and doesn't even know what roboticizing is!" Jonas had actually been wondering about that just now.  
  
"You want to know what it is, do you?" one of the others, a stout and relatively short squirrel, asked Jonas. He held up his arm, composed of metal all the way up to the shoulder. "This is what it is. This is what the Eggman wants to do to all of us completely. And he's already done it to most people. Most of us were rescued once before, but not unaffected completely. When people go in that machine of his, they come out zombies. You're all metal with no free will. You work as a slave for Robotnik, maybe knowing what's going on if you're lucky but unable to do anything about it. And you're stuck like that. I've seen it. I've seen it done to my family and friends." The metal hand balled into a fist and shook. "That's his dream. The entire world serving him mindlessly, a metallic heaven for him and hell for us at once, and then who's next? Your planet maybe, if you're telling the truth?" The squirrel's speech ended and tears flowed down his face.  
  
"You mean.you mean most of this planet's population is like this?"  
  
Tails' head nodded sadly. "We've been able to bring back the minds of a few, but we've lost about 80% of everybody."  
  
Jonas was silent for a moment, trying to find words.  
  
"That's horrible." It was all he could think of.  
  
*******************  
  
"Wait! It's me!"  
  
A gasping Dino waved a strange-looking rifle in front of the oncoming trail of dust, which skidded to a halt not two feet away.  
  
"Dino? I was wondering where you'd been."  
  
"I was captured by Hadron earlier this morning! He's still around, antagonizing prisoners. I picked the locks and escaped just two minutes ago."  
  
Sonic frowned. "It's a miracle you got away. Where'd you get the gun?"  
  
"Well, I found it on his ship and stole it. There must be hundreds just like this one hidden there!" Dino waved his arms to illustrate his point. "And he's going to sell them all to Robotnik when he digs them out!"  
  
"No, he isn't," Sonic smirked. "I'm going to take care of him right now."  
  
"Let me come along too!"  
  
"No, you stay here. I don't want you getting hurt."  
  
"I'll stay out of the way, and I'll guard your back too. Please?" Dino seemed a little overeager to tag along this time around. It was odd, especially since he kept to himself all the time. That was his nature as a retired bounty hunter, sworn to the side of good by his hatred of Nack and moral qualms. Or so he described himself as once, anyways.  
  
Oh well, the guy did have a gun and Sonic wasn't about to take any chances. Maybe Dino was angry about Hadron for something he did to him. For all he knew, the human could be even craftier than 'Buttnik. He was certainly more unpredictable. It might come down to a backup gunman, although Sonic didn't like the idea of outright killing. It entertained his mind earlier but he would never carry through with that.  
  
"All right then," he said finally. "But stay out of our way and don't shoot unless you absolutely have to."  
  
"Okay, I promise. Let's get him!" Dino urged.  
  
"Right!" Sonic grabbed Dino's arm and the two were off in a blaze.  
  
*****************  
  
The elevator doors finally opened, and air of the world outside breezed in. Jonas inhaled deeply, and gagged on the foul stench of pollution. Where were they, the landfill of the city?  
  
"All right, let's get going," he commanded, picking up the wolf, whose uneven legs wouldn't allow him to run. Looking around for potential immediate sources of trouble and finding none, he began to jog to the nearest secluded area. A slight, periodic, pounding sensation in Jonas' head occurred with every step. It made sense - he probably wasn't 100% himself after the adventures of the past two days.  
  
No. He hadn't been sick a second ago and his head wouldn't feel quite like that from the knockout hit yesterday. The pollution really wasn't that bad, either. That left one option.  
  
"All right," he stated slowly towards the wolf draped over his shoulder. "Stop whacking my skull with that cane."  
  
"You murderer! Put me down this instant!" the wolf howled, ignoring the command and continuing the siege.  
  
"Shut up!" Jonas hissed. "You want to get us caught again?"  
  
They reached a niche in the wall and stopped to catch their breaths and see if they were being followed. Jonas made the mistake of putting the wolf down for a moment. While Tails peered around for the next safe destination, the human stood with his arms folded and an irritated look on his face as the wolf persisted beating him weakly about the shoulders and face.  
  
"Would somebody please take his stick away?" he quietly asked.  
  
"I won't let you make us all slaves!!"  
  
The badger reached in and grabbed the cane, causing the wolf to lose his balance and lean heavily against the wall.  
  
"Here you are," she said, holding the weapon to Jonas, who promptly broke it over his knee.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Hey! That cost me 150 dollars, you scum!"  
  
"Oh, boo-hoo."  
  
"H-hey look!" The rabbit pointed, his arm quaking, towards a small dot on a clear stretch of the horizon. It grew steadily into a trail of dust and seemed to grow larger as it sped progressively faster towards them.  
  
Tails' eyes lit up. "I knew he'd come rescue us!"  
  
There was cautious exuberance all around. Even Jonas had to admit he was glad to see him.  
  
Sonic came to a halt about fifty feet away. He wasn't alone; a rather nondescript raccoon with an odd, trident-shaped gun of some sort released Sonic's shoulder and aimed the weapon at Jonas.  
  
The hedgehog raised his finger and pointed accusingly.  
  
"You!"  
  
"Is there a little bit of a problem?" Jonas asked in the most saccharine, naïve voice he could. The whole "you could be working for the enemy" bit was getting quite tiresome.  
  
"You turned Sally and Geoffery over to 'Buttnik! They told me when I found them!"  
  
What?!?! Nonsense!!  
  
"It appears," Jonas growled, "that the opposite is true. I'll have you know that they found out for themselves I was no spy! Right at the scene! What in the world did they tell you?! I've been spending the past hour getting these people free. What's your freakin' excuse?!"  
  
"He's right!" Tails cut in. "He got me out of the prison and everything!"  
  
"Tails?? How'd you get here!"  
  
Tails looked at Jonas pleadingly.  
  
"Uh.he was patrolling the, ah, perimeter and got captured in the line of duty," Jonas fibbed. "And not by me." That part was true. Tails nodded in earnest.  
  
Sonic paused in confusion. "Really? How'd you get out here, Tails? You know this was a big deal - "  
  
"Don't listen to him!" the wolf yowled. "He broke my cane!"  
  
"Quiet!" hissed the badger.  
  
"He could be trying to trick us!" Jonas was really beginning to dislike the lupine protestor.  
  
"He did rescue us when he didn't have to. And he hasn't tricked us or done anything rash so far," the squirrel retorted. "Besides, he gave us his gun so we would know he wasn't going to pull a fast one. We know how you feel, Sonic, but you'd better come up with some hard evidence to prove otherwise."  
  
"I did see you with a pistol and one of 'Buttnik's uniform on the cameras. And you've still got the gun."  
  
"Yeah, Robotnik tried to get me over to his side with a change of uniform. I swiped the gun off of Snively after I said no, and I don't have either any more. Is that fine?"  
  
"It's true! I saw him ditch the uniform, Sonic!" Tails was really coming in handy with his add-ins. Maybe this would all end well, after all.  
  
"Y-yeah! H-he didn't k-k-kill us or t-turn us in when he c-could have!"  
  
"And the contraband guns?" Sonic raised an eyebrow and pointed to Dino's gun. "He says he found this on board your ship."  
  
Jonas sweated a little. He did have guns aboard. That was true. It wouldn't look good, even if he had no intent of shooting anybody with them.  
Wait a minute.  
  
"That's not the type of gun I have on the ship! They don't even mass- produce that kind of gun back on Earth. The one Tails is holding is the kind I have - the plain vanilla kind of laser rifles. None of those weird souped-up add-ons your friend's got there." That was right, they knew about it anyways, and he could have shot anybody with that rifle rather than giving it to Tails. "Go ask Bunnie or somebody if you don't believe me."  
  
"Is that so. Well.you still found a way to get Sal and Geoff captured."  
  
"Uh-uh. How could I have if I was with you the whole time since you found me? I assume I was searched for bugs and other things, right?" Sonic nodded, and Jonas continued. "And I was clean, right? So I couldn't use my ship or anything else to do anything to talk to Robotnik. I don't even know the way back from here. You blindfolded me, right? I don't even know where Knothole is. It could not possibly have been me." Jonas felt a bit contentious at the moment. "If there's a traitor in your midst, I'll bet you anything that you took off before you let them say anything as to who it was."  
  
Now Sonic was really perplexed. "Well, Sally was trying to tell me something.and if it couldn't be you, then."  
  
Then a gleam came to his eye as everything began to come together. Jonas had a sinking feeling that the guy Sonic was after was among them after all.  
  
*****************  
  
Dino had to act fast. If the human kept talking, he'd never get Sonic to let him shoot the guy and stand still long enough. That young twit Tails and all the others weren't helping matters either.  
  
"He's a spy!" he screamed desperately.  
  
"You think so? I'm not so sure." Sonic wasn't going to cooperate after all. "There's one other person who's been here all the time this stuff's been going on. You know, bounty hunters probably have a price they're willing to sell out to, even if they are retired." He cast a now- questioning eye at Dino.  
  
The game was over. He had to shoot one of them right now. And since Sonic was too quick -  
  
"What are you talking about?!" Dino demanded. "I'm sure he's the spy, and if you won't take him out, I will!" The overlander saw it coming and began to bring up his hand in a vain attempt to block it.  
  
Fixing his aim at Hadron's head, he pulled the trigger.  
  
Sonic tried to wrest the gun from him to deflect the shot. This worked and didn't work at the same time. The laser pulse was on its way from the central barrel, its course slightly altered. It traveled through the human's outstretched palm, hitting him again in the meaty part of his shoulder, where it burned out its rage. Hadron was knocked ten feet back and sent sprawling on the ground by the blast.  
  
Dino and Sonic struggled mightily with the gun as the others looked on, Tails trying to aim the pistol but afraid to hit his foster brother.  
  
Now Dino was really in for it. Sonic had caught him, and if he didn't kill the hedgehog here and now, he was toast. If he did, he'd have to deal with about eight of his adversary's very unhappy friends, and then worry about the rest of his plan.  
  
Slowly, surely, the hedgehog was winning. There had to be something Dino could do to at least get away. If he could knock him out and then run really fast, it might still be possible to get out of here with Hadron's ship.  
  
"Dino! You monster! How could you?! We all trusted you with our lives!" Sonic was yelling as he pinned him by the throat to the ground. Dino opted not to give him an answer, instead kicking Sonic as hard as he could in the gut. Losing grasp of the rifle, the hedgehog hit the ground with the wind knocked out of him, which allowed a relieved but gasping Dino to pull the gun back into shooting position, aimed at Sonic's enraged face.  
  
"Of all the backs I've stabbed over the years, yours has most certainly been the hardest to get at," he sneered. "Then again, I've never infiltrated a freedom fighter movement before. Oh well. You found me and now it's time for me to clean up. It'll be all over soon."  
  
"Forget about me?" a third party chirped.  
  
A laser bolt flew right by Dino's face. Inexperience had made it miss. That little urchin! Furious, he turned, and lined up another shot, this time at Tails.  
  
Those were his two mistakes. First, he let his anger dictate his actions before taking care of the greater threat, and second, he wasted the time window he had to take care of Sonic.  
  
For Sonic was indeed the fastest living creature on the planet. Thus, he was able to get his breath back, leap from his sitting position, curled into a ball as he had done so many times before, and cleave the rifle into many shards as the laser blast never left the barrel. All within a few seconds.  
  
Within another second, Dino was pinned to the ground, his hands held behind his back and his face in the dirt as he muffed curses at the remnants of his foiled plan.  
  
"Monster! You would kill a little kid?! You mess with my friends, and you'll pay for it." Sonic was furious all right over the attempt on his best friend's life. This fury in his eyes was replaced by a cold, rational look. "Time for your treason trial, bud. You aren't worth me taking your life."  
  
He was most certainly in for it now.  
  
****************  
  
The stinging, burning sensation was new to Jonas. He'd never been shot before, and now that he had, he could really do without the displeasure of it happening again. Now his right arm refused to move without complaining about the nice charred mark smoldering from fairly deep into his shoulder. That beam must have gone in fairly deeply, maybe to the bone. The entire upper right quadrant of his torso also protested of the great discomfort with every breath he took. It was almost enough pain to make him forget about the hole in his hand.  
  
Almost.  
  
Stupid one-piece armored vest. Why didn't they make the damn things to cover up one's shoulder?  
  
The people he had freed were around him, at least as far as he could tell with the yammering about his head and the figures he saw when he opened his eyes for a moment. Words of congratulation were there when he felt like listening - which wasn't very often - and an apology or two from the wolf that meant to beat him up with the cane.  
  
"Unnghh.thanks. It's okay. I understand," he muttered. Well, he figured he should try to get up and see what was going on. It wouldn't do him or anyone else much good to just lie here and wait to get captured by Robotnik again.  
  
Wincing as he got to one knee, and noticing that he could avoid fainting after all, he opened his eyes and forced them to stay open. The scene was pretty much the same, except now Sonic was standing on the raccoon's back and talking as he held down the arms of the guy who had just plugged him. In an instant, Jonas realized who the raccoon was.  
  
"Are you okay? We'd better get you back to Knothole and patch you up."  
  
Jonas gave a thumbs up with his intact hand, groaning a bit. "Heh.So that's Dino the Cleaner, isn't it?" he asked as he grabbed the bad shoulder with the good hand, trying not to look too pitiful with the maneuver.  
  
"Yep," answered Sonic. Jonas now grunted and shuddered a bit at the discomfort. "Whoa, it's really not good for you to be moving like that. Just stay down and don't try to move too much. I'll take care of this guy and then he'll see justice when we get back."  
  
"Au contraire, hedgehog," boomed a voice from out of nowhere that caught everybody off guard. While Tails and the other freed hostages were busy trying to find the source of this statement, a large blue bolt materialized from a previously harmless-looking turret and headed straight at Sonic and Dino.  
  
The resulting blast sent Sonic spinning head over heels, flying through the air in the direction of the others until the squirrel caught him safely with his robotic arm.  
  
"You okay?" the squirrel asked.  
  
"Yep. Didn't even get singed," Sonic replied. He then cringed as he looked at his less fortunate adversary. "Ick."  
  
"Too bad my spy didn't quite finish the job. A pity, really. I'll have to find the location of your village from someone else," the voice continued as the dust cleared. What used to be Dino became a bit clearer as everyone looked away from the scorched site in disgust. "My tolerance for incompetence grows increasingly slim, hedgehog. I have no SWATbots ready in this quadrant, so I'll just have to pick you all off with my new plasma torpedoes instead. My dear condolences. Ta-ta, and good riddance."  
  
"No time to chat, gang!" Sonic shouted. Before Jonas could open his mouth to ask for clarification, his good arm was caught up by someone's hand. Then, he was careening through the dead city, blue flame raining everywhere like meteors, at such a speed that it seemed quite agreeable to pass out for a minute or two rather than try to understand what was going on and deal with the pain from his arm. So he did. The feeling was actually quite nice.  
  
*****************  
  
"Nyello?"  
  
"Yeah, what?"  
  
"Mind if I come in?"  
  
"I thought that was the idea."  
  
Sonic quietly made his way in to the overlander's room. He noted that Jonas was cranky about having to be shut in for a week to let his shoulder heal a bit after the traitor business, even though he "felt fine." Everyone else had said so when they visited him earlier this week. He couldn't blame him - he would hate having to sit around too. Good thing for Jonas that he could probably get up soon, and then take off for home.  
  
"How's it feeling?"  
  
"Ehh. About as good as it could be." Jonas shifted his bandaged hand in the sling, grimacing as the agitation reprimanded him for doing so. "I'm just glad the doc's giving me the okay to get lost. No offense, but I can't wait to get the blazes out of here. So.what's up?"  
  
"Just thought I'd say I'm sorry for the whole mix-up and for ducking you this past week. You'd have never gotten shot if I had found out Dino in the first place." Sonic shook Jonas' good hand. "Thanks for helping us out. You didn't have to save those hostages and you risked your neck for us. I wish I'd taken care of it, but I didn't see them. I feel horrible about all of it."  
  
"Heh, thanks. Don't worry about it, if you hadn't figured out Dino was the traitor at all we would all be dead. And you saved all our skins too, you know."  
  
"Yeah, just wished I saved yours in better condition."  
  
Jonas shrugged. "I'll take one for the team. It'll have time to heal when I get back home in a couple of days. I hope Bookshire's done with those test results."  
  
"Oh, that's right, you'll be leaving as soon as he gives you the okay. I wish you could stay longer."  
  
"I kind of have to. My boss is going to give me hell if I don't get back right away. Hope you like the guns."  
  
"Thanks a ton. You have no idea how badly we needed those."  
  
"That's what they're for," Jonas grinned. "It'll be easier on me with the customs people when I get back. Let that Robotnik guy have it with one of those for me, eh?"  
  
"Oh, I'll keep it in mind. 'Buttnik's getting his sooner or later."  
  
Another knock on the door came.  
  
"Mr. Hadron? I finished your blood tests, and the results came out well like everything else. You're all set to go."  
  
"Thanks, Bookshire. And thanks for taking care of me this past week."  
  
"Don't mention it. It was my pleasure."  
  
"Nice meeting you too. Take care and maybe I'll see you later."  
  
The doctor smiled, waved goodbye, and then closed the door again.  
  
"Princess Sally and I will see you off to the ship," Sonic continued. "We have it stored in Robotropolis."  
  
Jonas balked. "It's still there?! We'll never get it back now! And if I do, I'll get blown out of the sky!"  
  
"It's the only place Robotnik won't look for it if he still thinks he has it. Don't worry, he'll be too busy worrying about a certain hedgehog and a couple of exploding factories to notice."  
  
"Heh. I get it. I'll look in my rear view mirror and enjoy the show."  
  
Jonas got up slowly and Sonic opened the door for him as he walked a little unsteadily outside. It was going to be a long trip back for the poor guy. Well, at least Sonic had finally met one good human in his lifetime. He'd heard stories about a nice guy by the name of Nate Morgan that helped out King Acorn before the war, but never got to meet him.  
  
Too bad Jonas was going now. Knothole residents really liked him a lot now, and Sally had declared him a Friend of the Kingdom. It might not help the situation with the guy's boss, but it was a nice gesture.  
  
"Hope you stop by again."  
  
"I'll see what I can do, I've got a lot of planets to hit. But if I get the chance, I will." Jonas smiled as they shook hands. "Nice doing business with ya."  
Epilogue  
  
Scicomp President Vincent Page paced behind his desk as Jonas sweated in the guest chair in Page's office in Toronto, North America. His jacket didn't cover his arm sling very well, and that was the least of his worries.  
  
Page was a nice guy, all right, but he did have a no-nonsense attitude with his employees and could fire one for messing around too much, also ruining job opportunities with poor recommendations while he was at it. Jonas could only hope he'd believe the story about the sudden civil war on Omicrus 4 and subsequent sudden ending within just seven days after he unloaded the illegal guns. And there was also the thing about how the citizens of Omicrus didn't want it getting out that they'd had a civil war, so they'd kept it hush-hush and away from every single intergalactic newspaper and tabloid in existence.  
  
Well, it could happen, couldn't it?  
  
"You know, Hadron, you don't have to tell me fairy tales."  
  
Okay, okay, it was a flimsy story, but a little proof against it would be required to discount it completely.  
  
"You see, that insignia on your uniform vest does more than look nice." Bernstein held up the silver logo from the sterilized uniform handed in earlier this week for analysis and the usual "let's not get any alien diseases" routine. "See this nice little thing? I had a bug in it, just to keep my employees honest. So discrete and yet right out in the open, nobody who's searched our clients for bugs has checked it out yet." He produced a microchip from his pocket and laid it carefully on the table.  
  
Oh, &#$%! Jonas let a stream of profanity fly in his mind while keeping his mouth shut.  
  
"Yes, I've heard the whole account recorded here," Page continued. "Very enthralling story, Hadron. I was riveted, really I was. You might want to write a book of your adventure."  
  
Oh no, here it came. The big, nasty pink slip began to taunt him from inside the company president's drawer. Jonas hoped his account would sell big on the streets when he was out of a job. It wasn't bloody likely either, what with all the Internet novels out there. Great works they were, but the author never made a dime due to free file sharing programs.  
  
"Mobius is off limits from interplanetary capitalism. You know that, don't you, Hadron?" Page was in front of Jonas now, and leaned over him for effect. "You also should know the rules that employees who disobey company regulations must answer to, if you catch my drift."  
  
"Sir, please.I don't know where else to go! It was an honest mistake, really!"  
  
His boss now chuckled. "Relax, Jonas! You didn't quite hear me out. I wasn't going to fire you. In fact, I have a deal proposed for you, because of the things you did." Page went to his desk and sighed as he sat down. "I guess I owe you an explanation, seeing as you're on to our little secret. You see, Robotnik's great-grandfather, an army engineer, worked with us on top-secret military projects about 100 years ago when we received contracts regularly from the government. He was a brilliant man, and chief among his contributions was the invention of the wormhole that we use for intergalactic travel today. That is how we amassed the initial fortune that we continue to build up at this moment."  
  
Jonas was looking out the window at the bikini-clad woman on a digital ad while Page had his back turned, and snapped his attention back as his boss faced him again.  
  
"The problem was, that man, by the name of Kintobor, I believe, went insane and stole many of the company's military projects in an attempt to take over North America as well as hold the world hostage. He failed, of course, and was killed. We used a wormhole to quietly exile his family into space at their request, where they could hopefully live out their lives without having to face the shame of the world. We found no sign of them afterwards until a distress signal from a Scicomp ship from the planet Mobius told us of the tyranny of Kintobor's great-grandson, about 10 years ago. To this point, no one outside of Scicomp and the government knows of his involvement with us, as with Mobius, and we aim to keep it that way."  
  
Jonas couldn't forget about that other mission. He was just an intern here and two of his high school buddies had been aboard that ship. The eerie part was that they reminded him of those two creatures pawing at him in the glass tubes he'd seen on his stay there. They had features - hair, facial and body structure or what there was of it that could be compared - that sort of resembled his lost friends'. It couldn't have been. But with this new development, he really wanted to make sure. And at the same time, he didn't.  
  
"So there you have it. Because of our company's inability to keep Kintobor in check 100 years ago, we have indirectly caused Mobius' problems. Fortunately, we have kept it out of the papers, but if we are found out, it will shame our good name. However."  
  
"However?" Jonas gulped. He was still very nervous that he might get fired.  
  
".you've done quite a good job advancing a good cause on Mobius. Supplying weaponry for an underground movement, befriending an entire freedom movement, helping discover a traitor, actually confronting the tyrant and getting away with your life.not bad, Hadron, not bad. I must say I'm impressed. That interrogation must have hurt, too." Jonas subconsciously reached at his facial scars across his forehead and cheekbone.  
  
"You've also opened up a golden opportunity," Page continued. "If we can supply this Princess Sally with arms and personnel, we can help overthrow Robotnik and restore peace to Mobius. Scicomp will be renowned as the company that stopped the forces of chaos and destruction rather than the company that brought it about. Our customer appreciation, and sales, will increase rapidly. We'll also receive hefty government and private grants to continue this outreach. You've actually done us a favor."  
  
"So, it means I can keep my job, sir?"  
  
"I'll tell you what I'll do, son. You know for a fact that these freedom fighters will only deal with people they know to be good people."  
  
Jonas immediately didn't like where this was going.  
  
"And since we only have one employee they recognize and trust, we can only send that employee to contact them."  
  
Jonas really, really didn't like where this was going.  
  
"That would be you, Jonas. I'm sending you back there with more supplies, immediately after your full recovery from your injuries. Of course, you must keep your work secret from your coworkers outside this little project as well as the general populace. We could certainly use your experience, and I'm more than willing to look the other way over your error this time.unless you would, perhaps, care to try and make a living off of free Internet books?"  
  
"No, sir! I'd be more than happy to conduct transactions with Mobius!"  
  
No, he wasn't the least bit happy. Robotnik would find him again and make his life miserable. He might even get killed, or tortured, or maybe both in a bizarre and rather objectionable way. He was going to land right next to freaking Robotropolis, the belly of the beast. That was the only way Sonic and the others could find him without him pointing Robotnik to Knothole and ruining everything. Oh, there were nice people in the Freedom Fighters, all right, but the threats far outweighed their companionship right now. Funny thing about right now, wasn't it? Right now was also when he was stuck with this whole mess instead of unemployment.  
  
"Good." Page paused while Jonas' mind ran amok with this rant. "Oh, by the way, increased risk means that your ship will need serious upgrades to protect both you and it. Options include cloaking devices, increased shields, and more firearms for the hull of ship. You'll also need more personnel to back you up. Your safety will be a top priority. Also, the employee who does a special job like this is due a raise and a promotion. And perhaps some other, ahem, lucrative opportunities would assist you somewhat. Congratulations."  
  
Well, that would help things a little bit, Jonas decided as he shook hands with Page and left. Back into the fire, eh? Not his cup of tea, but he'd deal. The Mobians would be glad to see him again, and vice versa. The upgrades and backup he'd have - and did he hear the words "raise" and "promotion" correctly? - were good convincing materials as well. Maybe this time he'd actually get to keep the ship out of trouble.  
  
Still, maybe he'd aggravate his shoulder a bit, just to postpone it all just a little longer. He was due for a bit of a vacation anyways. What was a good place to go this time of year? St. Augustine was nice, and so was San Juan. 


End file.
